


The Side Effects Of You

by woozieverse



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Bickering, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, cheol's his editor, jihoon's a writer, or they think they do, side SoonHui, soonyoungs tired of them, thats pretty much it, they hate each other, wonwoo sucks at pep talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woozieverse/pseuds/woozieverse
Summary: Jihoon wants nothing more than to throttle Seungcheol sometimes.And Seungcheol wants nothing more than to kiss him sometimesBut they never say it out loud, until one of them does.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	The Side Effects Of You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GinevraJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinevraJ/gifts).



> It's been so long since I posted anything but heyyyyy im back. This is first and foremost a gift for gine so i really hope she likes it and anyone else reading this, I hope you enjoy it too

Jihoon dropped the manuscript back on the table, not even trying to hide the annoyance in his expression. "Be honest, did you really need to do all that or were you just bored?", He asked, shifting his glare from the manuscript to the man seated across him.

Seungcheol calmly sipped on his drink, "I wasn't  _ bored _ Jihoon, this is my job. If you can't take criticism, you shouldn't have taken this job."

Jihoon scoffed, "I  _ do _ take criticism, constructive criticism. Saying I should "hit backspace" on a whole scene without any reasoning as to why isn't criticism, it's called being an asshole." Seungcheol scowled, but was interrupted before he could retort.

"Are you two gonna do anything besides giving each other murderous stares and sipping on the same cups of coffee you ordered an hour ago?", Soonyoung asked, an innocent smile on his face. 

"Aren't you supposed to be working?", Jihoon countered. In response, Soonyoung grabbed the nearest chair and sat down with them. "I'm the manager now, so no, not really.", He grinned. "Besides, watching you two bicker is more fun than listening to ridiculous customer complaints.", He added.

Scoffing, Seungcheol stood up, "Well, I'm sorry to cut your entertainment short, but I have places to be so I'll be going now." He turned to Jihoon, "See you next week then, bye."

Soonyoung sat in silence, watching as Jihoon skimmed through the papers again, fist bunching up as he re-read the notes. "Who the fuck does he think he is, telling me to rethink including the best scene I wrote.", Jihoon muttered. "He can shove these "critiques" up his ass, I'm not changing shit."

"Woah, woah, calm down Ji.", Soonyoung raised his arms placatingly. "He's probably just looking out for you, he's been in the business for years, after all."

"So have I? Besides, you  _ know _ I don't write for my works to appeal to the audience", Jihoon argued. "I even mentioned in the notes how it was one of my favourite scenes.", He was sulking now.

"Well, he  _ did _ say that it's just a suggestion, you can ignore it. It's your book.", Soonyoung shrugged. Jihoon nodded, "Exactly what I'm going to do, thank you."

.

"Aw, I just realised you've only got 3 more weeks left in the writing process.", Soonyoung pouted as he walked Jihoon out onto the sidewalk. "I'm gonna miss listening in on your banter every week"

"I'm not, I've had enough of having to be civil with him every week.", Jihoon replied, shivering in the winter breeze. "And stop lying Kwon, you've barely talked to us ever since you hired that new barista. What was his name again? Junhui?"

Soonyoung shrugged nonchalantly, though his quickly reddening ears were telling another story, "I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, I've got to get back to work. Bye!" He was rushing back into the cafe before Jihoon could call out his shitty acting skills.

Jihoon chuckled, watching the latter almost crash into a waiter in his haste to get back inside. "Dumbass.", He smiled fondly. It was hard to keep a sour mood for long around Soonyoung.

  
  
  


*********

  
  
  


Jihoon hadn't expected to wake up to a text from Seungcheol saying he was busy and would be sending his assistant to give Jihoon his review of the final manuscript instead of coming himself, but Jihoon did breathe a sigh of relief at the news.

He'd been worried that Seungcheol would tell him the book was shit and couldn't be published and he would either have a break down right there or punch Seungcheol in the face. He didn't know what would've been worse.

  
  
  


.

  
  


He was already there waiting when Seungcheol's assistant arrived at the cafe. "Ah, sorry to keep you waiting Jihoon-ssi.", She apologised as she sat down. "Ah, no worries Jiwoo-ssi. I only arrived a few minutes ago.", He smiled.

"Here's your final manuscript.", Jiwoo handed it over. When Jihoon hesitated to open it, she smiled reassuringly, "Seunghcheol said it didn't need any major tweaking and was pretty much ready to go, but if you have anything to discuss you can call him."

Jihoon nodded and opened the file, immediately noticing the lack of red marks, and the heart drawn in blue highlighter next to the title on the first page. "Um, are you sure this is the right manuscript?", He asked as Jiwoo was getting up to leave.

Jiwoo nodded, "Yes, Seungcheol himself gave me this and said to get it to you here so I left the office immediately. Why do you ask?" Jihoon shook his head when he saw his name under the title, "Nevermind, thank you Jiwoo-ssi."

_ Interesting _ , he thought as he flipped it open to the first page.

Half an hour later, Jihoon was staring at the file in his hand the same way he'd stared at Soonyoung when he'd ordered pineapple pizza that one time they'd gone out for food, except 10 times more dumbfounded.

The title on the manuscript was the same as his book's, and it was his name on there too, and the notes  _ were _ in Seungcheol's handwriting, but he refused to believe this was Seungcheol's work. It  _ couldn't _ be.

The whole thing was full of only praises for Jihoon's writing, from small footnotes complimenting Jihoon's characters' development arc to the 5 pages worth of paras upon paras of Seungcheol gushing over his writing style that he hadn't even gotten to reading.

Jihoon was shocked, confused and a little concerned. He just sat there for a good ten minutes trying to process what he'd just read through, his thought process being interrupted by Soonyoung pulling out the chair across him.

( **_A few minutes earlier_ ** )

The cafe was quite busy, Soonyoung had ended up having to help out with serving and hadn't even gotten a chance to say hi to Jihoon when he'd arrived or ask why Seungcheol hadn't come. He'd finally gotten a 20 minute break to have something to eat when his phone rang.

"Seungcheol, hey! I was gonna call you-" "Soonyoung, is Jihoon still there?!", Seungcheol interrupted, sounding frantic. "Yeah, he got here a few minutes ago, why?", Soonyoung asked, worried. "Soonyoung please, I need you to somehow take the manuscript from him before he reads through it."

Soonyoung got up and walked out to the seating area, "Okay, but why? And why aren't you here?" He could hear Seungcheol pacing around on the other end of the line. "I fucking sent him the wrong one!", Seungcheol replied, clearly freaking out. "Oh god, he's gonna read it and think I'm a creep, isn't he? Oh fuck, why did I have to fuck up so bad? He's never talking to me again."

Soonyoung stopped walking. " Wait- oh my god, you're telling me you sent him the copy of the manuscript in which you gush over him???", He asked. "......Yes....", Seungcheol sounded like he wanted nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

"Oh, thank fuck. We can  **_finally_ ** get this show on the road. It's high time you both get over your egos and just admit you don't really hate each other.", Soonyoung couldn't help laughing. He'd only found out about Seungcheol's little crush on Jihoon accidentally when he'd gone over to the elder's workplace and stumbled upon his collection of Jihoon's past manuscripts.

Seungcheol would always make 2 copies of Jihoon's manuscripts, one of which he'd use to fanboy over Jihoon's writing to his heart's content, and the 2nd one, which he'd use to send feedback to Jihoon from a professional viewpoint as his editor.

Soonyoung had tried many times to get Seungcheol to show Jihoon the secret copies but he'd refused, making up excuses like "It would be unprofessional" and "He'd think I'm weird" but now it was finally happening.

"This isn't funny Soonyoung, I swear- if you tell him anything I'll kill you.", He wanted to sound threatening, but it came out desperate. "Yeah? Well, I'm looking at him right now and it looks like he's already read through half of it.", Soonyoung replied as he watched Jihoon from behind the counter.

" _ Shit _ , uhhh....can't you still get it back?", Seungcheol's voice turned even more frantic, if that was even possible. Soonyoung frowned, "Hyung, he's not a kid. He's gonna have questions about this, what am I supposed to tell him?"

"I don't know! I'm panicking!", Seungcheol half screamed. "I don't get paid enough for this.", Soonyoung muttered, sighing tiredly. "Alright, fine. I'll go talk to him. But the most I can probably do to save your ass right now is vaguely explain some things and tell him to talk to you directly about the rest."

Seungcheol was silent for a while, possibly weighing the pros and cons of having to face Jihoon in the near future. Finally, he sighed defeatedly, "Okay........thanks nyong, I owe you one."

"Damn right you do!", Soonyoung huffed indignantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have your crumbling reputation to save."

  
  
  


*********

  
  
  


"Mind if I join you for lunch?", Soonyoung asked as he sat down. Jihoon stared, first at Soonyoung, then the food in his hands, before his brain caught up with the present. "Uhh what? Oh, yeah sure.", He nodded.

Soonyoung eyed him with concern, "You ok ji? You look a little paler than usual." When the younger didn't reply, Soonyoung leaned over and snatched the manuscript from him, "Let's see what you're reading that's got you so speechless."

Jihoon watched Soonyoung's eyes widen in recognition as he flipped through it. "You know what this is?", He questioned. The latter put the manuscript down, "How did you get this?" "Seungcheol sent it, how else would I get it? Now tell me what the hell is going on.", He demanded.

"Okay, okay, I'll explain.", Soonyoung began. "Truth is, Seungcheol's been a fan of your work for years. He's been following your progress since uni days when you used to write for that one site."

Jihoon stared at him, "You're kidding." Soonyoung shook his head. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, and even harder for you to believe, but it's true. That magazine you write for? He has all the copies you've ever written for, I've seen them at his place."

Jihoon leaned back against his seat in quiet disbelief. "He makes 2 copies of the manuscripts you send him, one of them to critique from a professional standpoint that he gives to you, and the other to well, do whatever you just read.", Soonyoung gestured to the manuscript.

"Now, he's probably either gonna refuse to face you for like, the next month, or act like nothing happened till your book release and  _ then _ refuse to face you for a month.", Soonyoung explained as he finished the last of his food. "Give him some time to recover."

Just then, Jiwoo rushed into the cafe and up to them. "I'm sorry Jihoon-ssi, it seems Seungcheol gave me the wrong script to give you.", She explained "He sent me back to give this to you and take back the one I gave you." She handed Jihoon a new folder and reached for the one on the table.

"Why didn't Seungcheol come himself today?", Soonyoung finally asked from no one in particular. "He had a lot to do today, and he said Jihoon-ssi's manuscript was pretty much perfect and ready to go so he thought it wouldn't be a problem if he skipped coming here.", Jiwoo replied before taking her leave.

Soonyoung stood up as well, "I need to get back to work, you gonna stick around?" Jihoon shook his head, moving to gather his things, "I think I'll go home and take a nap or something." The latter shrugged, "Understandable, bye then."

  
  
  


*********

**_2 Days Later_ **

  
  


"I need to talk to you.", Jihoon blurted as soon as Seungcheol picked up. He heard a sigh from the other end, "I know, but I can't today Jihoon. I'm sick." Jihoon huffed, "Look, I know Soonyoung told me I should give you some time but- wait, what?" Seungcheol let out a chuckle, "I'm sick in bed, forgot to take an umbrella when it rained the other day."

"Oh....", He trailed off, unsure of how to continue. "Is it bad?" "It's just a cold and fever Jihoon. I'll be back to normal by tomorrow, don't worry.", Seungcheol reassured him. "We'll talk then, okay?" Jihoon nodded "Okay.....have you taken anything for it though?" "Uh, no. I don't think I  _ can _ , being on an empty stomach.", Seungcheol replied.

"You haven't had anything to eat? Seungcheol, it's 2pm.", Jihoon questioned. "Well, I don't exactly have the energy to cook right now.", Seungcheol said matter-of-factly. Jihoon rolled his eyes, "It takes like, 2 minutes to make toast." "I don't have bread.", The older countered.

"Soonyoung really wasn't kidding when he said you live like a broke college student, huh?", Jihoon muttered, annoyed. "In my defense, I'd planned to go get groceries after work today.", Seungcheol huffed defensively. "Also, you do  **not** get to reprimand me about poor life choices when Soonyoung said you literally live off instant ramen."

"It's because I like it's  _ taste _ , not because I can't cook!", Jihoon half yelled back, then sighed defeatedly. "Where do you live?", He asked after a short silence. ".......Why do you want to know?", Seungcheol questioned, cautious. "So I can make sure my editor doesn't die of starvation because he's too weak to cook for himself. Now tell me your address or I'll ask Soonyoung."

  
  
  


*********

  
  
  


Seungcheol had drifted back to sleep after his call with Jihoon, not expecting him to actually show up. "Did you seriously fall asleep? I've been out there for 10 minutes.", Jihoon mused as he followed Seungcheol into his apartment. Seungcheol shrugged, "So what if I did? It's not like I asked you to come over, you're basically trespassing right now."

Jihoon scoffed as Seungcheol led him to the kitchen, "Unbelievable, I honestly didn't think you could get any more moody than you usually are, guess I was wrong." "I am  **not** moody!", Seungcheol gasped, feigning offense. Jihoon rolled his eyes at the dramatics, "Yeah, ok. Get the dishes, I'm hungry."

Seungcheol stopped short, "You haven't eaten?" "I decided to just have my food here. I didn't want to just sit and  _ watch _ you eat, you know? That'd be weird.", Jihoon replied as he started to set the food he'd brought out on the table. "I brought bread too, now you won't starve even if you're sick." "I gOt BrEaD tOo", Seungcheol mocked him, annoyed. "Shut up."

  
  
  


*********

  
  
  


"Okay, but how do I know you're not poisoning me?", Seungcheol raised a brow in suspicion as they sat down to eat. "You don't. Guess you'll find out.", Jihoon shrugged, smiling innocently. Seungcheol narrowed his eyes, Jihoon rolled his eyes to suppress the fond smile creeping onto his face, "No one's trying to kill you Seungcheol, you're not some billionaire whose money I could run away with after."

They fell into a (surprisingly) comfortable silence after that, the clink of the cutlery the only sound in the place until Jihoon had a thought. "Just out of curiosity, what's your favourite book out of all my works?", He asked.

"Depends, but if I had to pick one I'd go with "Finding S(e)oul".", Seunghcheol replied. "It's a great read and I admire your bravery in putting out such a personal piece as a book for the world to nitpick, considering how it's mostly based on your experience of moving here from Busan."

Jihoon paused, "How did you know that?" Seungcheol shrugged, "I already had a hunch from how you were fussing over it more than you usually do, and then Soonyoung read through manuscript when he came over one day and confirmed my suspicions when he said it sounded like a lot of the stories you'd told him from your college days. How long have you known him?"

"I think, 7 years now? I met him at my job in my last year before graduation. We both had night shifts on weekends at a chinese place where he'd take the call orders and I was the delivery guy.", Jihoon relayed. "What about you?"

"Quite a fun story actually.",Seungcheol let out a short laugh "We met at one of those fancy business dinners when I was still working under my dad's company."

"Turned out, it was actually being hosted by  _ his  _ parents and he was trying to escape so he basically used me as an excuse to get out of there. He begged me to play along with him and we ended up at a dance showcase where his friends were competing.", He finished. "And then you stayed in touch after?", Jihoon asked.

"Yeah, pretty much.", Seungcheol nodded, reaching for the flask of soup again. Jihoon smirked, "Enjoying the food?" Seungcheol made a face, "Don't flatter yourself. It's not because of your cooking, I just haven't eaten in more than 12 hours."

"Mhmm, I totally believe you.", Jihoon put on a straight face, playing along for a while before bursting into giggles at the sight of Seungcheol sulking after they'd finished all the food. "It's been a while since I had good homemade food, okay? I don't know why you're finding this so funny.", He pouted, actually  _ pouted  _ at Jihoon.

"I don't know Seungcheol, you're acting like that was the last time you'll ever have korean food. I'd say that's pretty hilarious.", Jihoon taunted

"Oh, fuck off. It wasn't even that tasty", Seungcheol retorted, getting up to gather the dishes. "Mhm, that's why you took second, third  _ and  _ fourth servings. Not tasty at all.", Jihoon cheesed. "Oh. My. God. Can you leave already?", Seungcheol asked, feigning exasperation. "So annoying."

"Oh, you wanna kiss me so baaad~", Jihoon continued teasing him, expecting an eye-roll, a "shut up", or even a look of pure disgust in response. What he  _ didn't _ expect, however, was for Seungcheol to sigh and mutter, "Yeah, sometimes." as he turned away to put the dishes in the sink, not expecting Jihoon to hear it.

Seunghcheol was puzzled to find Jihoon suddenly standing still, his ears alarmingly red when he turned to face him again. "What?", He asked, slightly concerned. "What…...did you just say?", Jihoon asked back, wanting to make sure he hadn't misheard. "Me? I….", Seungcheol trailed off, realising that Jihoon  _ had _ , in fact, heard what he'd said.

And now he's blushing and Jihoon's blushing and they're both avoiding each other's gaze and it's awkward as hell until a very familiar voice cuts through the silence. 

" _ HEYYY _ , guess who- Jihoon? What are you doing here?", Soonyoung stopped at the kitchen entrance when his eyes fell on the two men. Seungcheol recovered first, "He called me earlier and I told him I was sick, so he brought me some food."

"Okayy...….I just dropped by to check on you before heading home. I didn't mean to interrupt.", Soonyoung said, only then noticing the awkwardness in the air.

"No! you aren't interrupting anything! I was just leaving anyway.", Jihoon immediately assured him before turning to Seungcheol. "Uhh, take care. Bye." And then proceeded to dash out of the room and the apartment, ignoring the fact that he was leaving his flask and lunch boxes behind.

Soonyoung watched him leave, baffled, before turning to Seungcheol, who was now sitting down, head in hands, looking for all the world like he was about to cry. "Sooo, are you gonna say something or not? Because like, I need context.", Soonyoung spoke after 5 minutes of silence.

Seungcheol got up, turned off the kitchen lights, and walked right past Soonyoung, "And  _ I  _ need a fucking nap."

  
  


*********

**_2 Weeks Later_ **

  
  


**nyong** : and what? you've just been avoiding him since then? jihoon what the fuck???

**ji** : what the fuck did you expect me to do?😭😭😭

**nyong** : TALK TO HIM? LIKE A NORMAL FUCKING HUMAN BEING???? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

**ji** : WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY???? "Hi Seungcheol, I just wanted to ask what you meant when you said you want to kiss me sometimes?"??????

**nyong** : I think it's very clear what he meant Jihoon, it's about how respond now

**ji** : fuck off, i don't know how to😭😭😭

**nyong** : I'll help: do you want to kiss him?

**ji** : I don't know, I never thought of him as someone I  _ could  _ kiss since we  _ work _ together

**nyong** : yeah but you've had time to think about it. it's been 2 weeks.

**ji** : yeah, ig

**nyong** : ok let me put it this way: if you hadn't known Seungcheol through work and met him somewhere random like my cafe and you became friends and then he asked you out, would you say yes?

**ji** : I have to go rn, we'll talk later.

**nyong** : coward.

Jihoon rolled his eyes at Soonyoung's reply as he pocketed his phone. He wasn't lying when he'd said he needed to go. It was the day of his book release and his agent and good friend Wonwoo had somehow managed to get him a book reading and signing at the Seoul Arts Centre.

The place was huge, and judging from the chatter, coming from the audience area, quite a lot of people had shown up. "You've gotten pretty famous Jihoon, the place is almost full. I'm impressed.", Wonwoo smirked, walking up to him backstage.

" _ Please _ shut up, I'm already nervous enough as it is.", Jihoon pleaded. Wonwoo chuckled, "You'll be fine, don't worry so much. And if you get nervous, you have a familiar face in the audience you can look to." "Familiar face? Is Soonyoung here? He told me he has work though.", Jihoon tilted his head in confusion.

"No, not Soonyoung.", The latter shook his head. "Seungcheol's here." Jihoon froze, "...what." "Yep, I was a bit puzzled when I saw him, because I know you two aren't exactly close.", Wonwoo nodded. "But I guess you made amends, seeing he's the one who called me, suggested this event and arranged the venue."

"Wait- he did all this?", Jihoon did a double take. "I thought  **you** planned it." "I  _ did  _ do the planning, but he's the one who suggested it in the first place and funded it, it's a joint effort.", Wonwoo explained. "He told me not to tell you because you'd say no to it, but I figured I can tell you, now that it's literally about to start."

And as if on cue, they heard Jihoon's name being called out on the stage. "You're up! Don't choke up on any words and you should be fine. Plus, it's only fifty something people so it shouldn't be a prob-." "Wonwoo, that's the worst pep talk I've ever heard, please stop.", Jihoon cut him off. "Okay,  _ fine _ . Good luck, bye.", He retorted before walking away. 

Taking a deep breath, Jihoon walked out onto the stage, smiling shyly at the sudden burst of applause to welcome him, eyes somehow instantly finding Seungcheol seated in the front row, clapping along with the rest of the crowd, beaming at Jihoon.

Bowing to the crowd, Jihoon took the mic, "Hello everyone, I'm Lee Jihoon.", He began by introducing himself. "I want to thank you all for coming here to listen to me read this book, and if that's  _ not _ what you came here for, then thank you for getting lost and ending up in here.", everyone laughed.

"This book is rather memorable for me, not only because it's my first attempt at a romance novel, but also because of all that I discovered while writing it.", He told the audience, carefully avoiding looking at Seungcheol.

"It's been quite a fun journey, and now it's time to share it with you. I present to you, "The Side Effects of You.""

  
  
  


*********

  
  


The entire room erupted into applause once again when Jihoon finished reading. He felt positively lightheaded when his eyes met Seungcheol's (who was smiling so big Jihoon thought he might go blind if he stared too long) as he bowed to the audience and went backstage while the host announced that it was time for the book signing event.

"You did good, I honestly expected you to make more mistakes since you don't do these reading events often.", Wonwoo said, handing Jihoon a bottle of water. "Gee, thanks Wonwoo, you're soooo supportive.", Jihoon dead panned.

"You're welcome.", Wonwoo cheesed. "Now, it's time to go sign some books. There's only about 30 people in line so you should be done pretty quick. Then you can go home and sleep.", he explained as he led Jihoon to the designated area.

Jihoon's next hour was filled with conversations with his readers about their favourite parts from his books, their favourite characters and some people even told him how his words had helped them during tough times.

It was these stories that really made Jihoon feel like he had a purpose in life, it amazed him that something he created could mean so much to someone else, but it's also what kept him going whenever he'd reached slumps in his career.

"And who should I address this to?", Jihoon asked as he opened up the last book, ready to add in his signature. "Choi Seungcheol.", A very familiar voice spoke. Jihoon's head whipped up to see Seungcheol standing there with what he recognized as his soup flask.

"What are you doing here?", He asked Seungcheol as the latter sat down across him. "Getting my book signed by my favourite author, what else?", Seungcheol replied coolly. Jihoon's ears began to turn red, "You could've just asked me to sign it for you another time, you didn't need to come all the way here."

"Yeah, but I've been trying and failing to get a hold of you for a week now, plus I've never been to any of your book readings.", Seungcheol shrugged. "I'm a really big fan of your work, Jihoon-ssi."

"So I've been told. I heard you've supported my work since I first started writing, you've helped me quite a lot in building my career." Jihoon smiled at the blush growing on Seungcheol's cheeks, mustering up all his courage before continuing, "What do you say I take you out for dinner sometime to return the favour?"

It took a second for realization to hit Seungcheol, his eyes growing wide and his face getting redder as it dawned on him that Jihoon had just asked him out. "Uhh…...sure. Just to be clear though-" "Yes, it's a date. Not tonight though, I'm tired as fuck, I need a loooong nap", Jihoon assured him.

"It's only been 3 hours though, Did you not sleep last night?", Seungcheol asked, concerned. Jihoon shook his head, "No silly, the tiredness isn't from today, it's from all those weeks I spent fighting with you over the manuscript editing."

Seungcheol scoffed in disbelief, "Maybe if you hadn't made so many mistakes, I wouldn't have had to edit the manuscripts so much." "My manuscripts were perfect, you just love telling people they're doing stuff wrong.", Jihoon huffed indignantly.

Seuncheol rolled his eyes, "Oh,  _ please _ . Do you even know how many spelling mistakes you had in there?"

They continued to bicker, until Wonwoo intervened. "Can you two please save the rest of this for your date? I need to go home.", He pleaded, effectively shutting them up.

"Good. Now, goodnight.", He gave Seungcheol a small smile before grabbing Jihoon's flask in one hand, and Jihoon by the other, and heading to the exit.

Seungcheol stood up, "But what about-" "Jihoon will call you!", Wonwoo assured him without turning back.

  
  


*********

3 days later, Jihoon found himself seated across Seungcheol at his (and surprisingly, Seungcheol's too) favourite pizza place.

"I can't believe you made me bring you to a pizza place, I wanted to take you somewhere fancier.", Jihoon confessed as he munched on his third slice. Seungcheol smiled, "I go to fancy places all the time, it feels good to have pizza after so long."

"Yeah but I wanted to thank you for paying for the whole thing at SAC.", He was close to sulking. Seungcheol rolled his eyes, fond as ever, "If you feel  _ sooo  _ bad about it, you can buy me for ice cream later." " _ Fine _ , saves more money for me." Jihoon shrugged, giving in.

"Jihoon?", Jihoon and Seungcheol turned away from their food to find Soonyoung watching them in utter disbelief. "Oh, hey nyong! What brings you here?", Seungcheol greeted, trying to act casual.

"I can't believe this, you two are going out without me now??? I wasn't even _informed_ when **_I'm_** the whole reason this even happened????", The latter huffed.

"Yeah well, you never told us you finally got the guts to ask your barista friend out either. Guess we're even.", Jihoon countered, recognizing the guy silently watching their conversation from behind Soonyoung.

"He didn't, actually. I was the one to ask him out.", Junhui stepped forward to introduce himself. Seungcheol laughed, "Wow, that's weak of you Soonyoung."

"At least I scored a date before either of you.", Soonyoung replied. "Come on junnie, I'm not wasting time talking to these traitors.", He took Junhui's hand and led him away, dramatic as always.

  
  
  


*********

  
  


"I had a great time today.", Seungcheol broke the silence as they walked up to Jihoon's place hand in hand. "Thank you." Jihoon smiled, "Thank you too." Seungcheol tilted his head, puzzled, "Me? For what?" "For putting up with me for so long, and supporting for even longer.", Jihoon replied as they came to a stop.

Seungcheol just stared at him for a while, as if trying to engrave Jihoon's face into his mind. "What?", Jihoon asked after a beat of silent staring. "Remember when I said I want to kiss you sometimes?", Seungcheol asked, stepping a little closer.

Jihoon felt himself blush, "Yeah, why?" Seungcheol smiled that blinding smile of his, "Now is one of those times." "Well, I guess you're in luck.", Jihoon grinned back. "Because I'm thinking the same thing."

Seungcheol let out a dramatic sigh of relief, "Oh,  **_finally_ ** ." Making him laugh before leaning in, Jihoon meeting him halfway.

  
  
  
  


**_The End <3_ **


End file.
